Thailand: Researchers find H5N1 bird flu in chickens

Thailand: Researchers find H5N1 bird flu in chickens

Officials on Monday found that bird flu killed 31 chickens in Phichit province's Bangmunnak district. Test results Tuesday evening then confirmed they were infected specifically with the deadly H5N1 virus, said Nirandorn Auengtrakulsuk, head of the Agriculture Ministry's Disease Control Department.

The new cases are the first found in Thai poultry in more than eight months, the AP reports.

Meanwhile, a 26-year-old man and an 11-year-old girl who had contact with chickens that later died are suspected of having bird flu, said a Public Health Ministry statement Tuesday. They have been hospitalized since Monday. The statement did not say if the chickens died of bird flu.